French 18th century magic trick book features 'blow' reading device

‘L’Abbé Quille’ (shown below), against whose leg a dog is seen relieving itself in the illustration, is one of 84 hand-coloured plates – 12 each of seven subjects – that make up a French magic trick book of c.1799 sold for £2900 by Dominic Winter (19.5% buyer’s premium) in a June 19-20 sale.

In original marbled wrappers, it is an example of a ‘Blow Book’, in which a skilled operator could…

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